February 03, 2013

This time it was all Duke, no doubt

About as long as it took Duke to take care of Florida State in drubbing the Seminoles 79-60.

And it wasn't that close as the Blue Devils led by as many as 27 points for much of the second half. A combination of cold shooting and poor defense will do that.

You knew it was not going well for FSU when Leonard Hamilton had to call a timeout just 2:41 into the game. By that time Duke was leading 7-0.

The Seminoles on the other hand were missing every thing they put up. FSU did not score its first points until the 15:58 make on a Kiel Turpin layup. The 'Noles did not score their next basket, a three pointer from Aaron Thomas (a team high 14 points and the only Seminole in double digits), until the 13:33 mark. By that time Duke was already leading 18-5.

And the lead continued to grow until half time where the Blue Devils led by twenty, 42-22.

Essentially game over.

Duke was playing defense. Florida State was not. The Blue Devils shot 62% in the first half. The Seminoles 29%.

Leading scorers Michael Snaer and Okaro White did not have a point between them. The starters were a combined 2-15. Thank goodness for the bench because it would have really been out of hand. Not that it wasn't already because you could sense there was going to be no dramatic comeback with a game winning shot at the buzzer this time.

The only thing that changed in the second half was the Florida State offense played better shooting 56% from the floor. That was primarily due to foul trouble on Mason Plumlee allowing the Seminoles to work the ball into the paint more and forgetting about the three pointer where the team jacked up 10 threes making just one attempt.

Duke still was torrid from the field connecting on 59% in the final period.

"We had a very difficult time disrupting Duke’s rhythm on the defensive end," Hamilton sad after the game. "They were able to pretty much get the ball where they wanted to in a timely fashion with their shooters."

Timely and open with numerous shot attempts uncontested by the FSU defense.

Hamilton was a little more generous in his assessment of the 'Noles defense saying, "Some of them we contested but I thought they did a tremendous job of moving the ball and getting their shooters in the best position to do what they do."

The Blue Devils put four players in double figures led by Seth Curry's 21 points including 5 of 7 three pointers.

The Seminoles were led in scoring by Thomas' 14 points and was the only Seminole in double digits.

If there was one highlight for FSU in the game it was the final basket where Boris Bojanovsky intercepted a pass out above the key and dribbled it the length of the floor for the flush.

Other than that not much good happened for the 'Noles.

The Seminoles fall to 12-9, 4-4 on the season and will head to Atlanta to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at 9 PM on Tuesday.